1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of “tablet” form-factor digital devices. More specifically, the present invention is related to a modified “tablet” form-factor digital device which can physically “dock” with like devices to create a larger, more capable device.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A tablet form factor is a “single slab” device which generally does not have a hinged keyboard section (in comparison to a notebook computer), but is essentially a screen device with some sort of touch screen as the primary input. Current examples on the market are the Fujitsu “Stylistic” series of tablet computers (representing Win9x devices), and at a smaller scale, Palm Pilot and handheld WinCE devices.
Many times, work utilizing such tablet form factor devices involves two or more people in immediate proximity to each other collaborating on some task which involves the use of such devices. In most collaborative environments such as this, the devices are digitally linked in some manner (IR, radio, ethernet) where data is shared on a “virtual whiteboard”. This whiteboard displays redundant, identical information on each device, which each user can thereby modify independently on their own device.
In these cases, the additional display, and essentially the entire hardware of the additional devices, are wasted due to their redundancy. In addition, portable products generally make sacrifices in screen area and hardware capability for the tradeoff of increased portability (smaller size and weight). Significant disadvantages result by failing to combine the resources, such as the displays, of each device in scenarios such as this.
The technique of “tiling” CRT or LCD displays has been demonstrated before, however, all efforts have focused on creating a large, permanent, single purpose display. The driving reason behind such techniques is to create a lower-cost tiled display (due to economies of scale of smaller displays) in comparison to a single display of comparable size. Two companies which have been working in this area are Sharp Corp. and Rainbow Displays, Inc.
The following US patents describe methods for tiling LCD screens together or the displaying of an image on multiple synchronized display units: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,760,388; 4,800,376; 4,844,068; 5,275,565; 5,661,531; 5,805,117; 5,838,405; 5,903,328; and 5,956,046.
Whatever the precise merits, features and advantages of the above cited references, none of them achieve a collaborative environment wherein a modular display and computing device can be increased and decreased in size and function in response to the task at hand.